City poised to sell library land

VICTORVILLE • The city is poised to take a $152,746 loss by selling land for less than it was purchased in 2005 when officials pledged to use it to build a library across from City Hall.

The deal, which is on Tuesday's City Council agenda, will mean $1.43 million in revenue for the cash-strapped city. It also will help pay back bond funds that were improperly used for the purchase six years ago in the midst of an intensifying investigation by the federal Securities and Exchange Commission into the city's bond expenditures.

Victorville disclosed in September that it used $1.8 million from a 2005 bond pledged toward improvements at Southern California Logistics Airport to instead buy 2.27 acres of land for a new library. Victorville intended to formalize a loan between the city and the Southern California Logistics Airport Authority to cover the purchase, a September staff report states, but "through inadvertence" that loan was never completed.

The City Council approved that five-year-old loan Sept. 21, giving the city's general fund five years to pay SCLA back for the land. Then in October, staff replaced that loan agreement with another, this time locking in a six-month repayment term.

After a series of closed-session discussions, staff reached a deal to sell 1.78 acres of the land to Los Angeles-based ICO Development LLC that will pour$1.43 million into the city coffer. That's 10 percent less than Victorville paid for that portion of the property in 2005.

If the deal is approved Tuesday night, Victorville will still own a half-acre of the property along Civic Drive.

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